Category: Depression Therapy

Depression is a common and serious mental illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease your ability to function at work and at home.

Depression symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include:

• Feeling sad or having a depressed mood
• Losing interest or pleasure in activities you once enjoyed
• Changes in appetite — weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting
• Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
• Loss of energy or increased fatigue
• Feeling worthless or guilty
• Trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions
• Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide

If you have any of these symptoms, it is important to see a doctor or mental health professional to get a diagnosis and treatment.

Causes

The exact causes of depression are not fully understood, but there are a number of factors that may contribute, including:

• Genetics: Depression tends to run in families, suggesting that there may be a genetic component.
• Brain chemistry: People with depression may have imbalances in certain brain chemicals, such as serotonin and norepinephrine.
• Life experiences: Traumatic or stressful life experiences can increase the risk of developing depression.
• Medical conditions: Some medical conditions, such as thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies, can cause depression-like symptoms.
• Medications: Some medications, such as steroids and beta-blockers, can cause depression as a side effect.

Treatment

There are a number of effective treatments for depression, including:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): This type of therapy helps people to change the way they think about and react to their depression.
• Interpersonal therapy (IPT): This type of therapy helps people to improve their relationships and social skills.
• Medication: There are a number of medications that can be effective in treating depression, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and tricyclic antidepressants.
• Psychotherapy: This type of therapy involves talking to a therapist about your thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
• Support groups: Support groups can provide you with a safe place to talk to others who understand what you are going through.

Hypnotherapy for Depression

Hypnotherapy is a type of therapy that uses relaxation and suggestion to help people change their thoughts, behaviours, and emotions. It can be an effective treatment for depression, especially when used in combination with other treatments.

Hypnotherapy can help with depression in a number of ways. It can help people to:

• Relax and reduce their anxiety levels.
• Change their negative thoughts and beliefs about depression.
• Learn coping skills to manage their depression.
• Access their subconscious mind to address the root cause of their depression.

Hypnotherapy is not a quick fix for depression, but it can be a helpful treatment option for people who are struggling with this condition. If you are considering hypnotherapy for depression, it is important to find a qualified hypnotherapist who has experience working with depression disorders.

How to Cope

There are a number of things you can do to cope, including:

• Take care of yourself: This includes eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly.
• Set realistic goals: Don’t try to do too much too soon. Break down your goals into smaller, more manageable steps.
• Spend time with loved ones: Social support can be very helpful in coping with depression.
• Avoid alcohol and drugs: Alcohol and drugs can worsen depression symptoms.
• Learn relaxation techniques: Relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing and meditation, can help to reduce stress and anxiety.
• Seek professional help: If you are struggling to cope with depression, it is important to seek professional help.

Conclusion

Depression is a serious mental illness, but it is treatable. If you are struggling with depression, please reach out for help. There are many resources available to you, including myself, Neil Cox. I’m based in Cornwall but also deliver therapy worldwide using Google Meet. Book your appointment using the link below…

Overworked?

You have probably felt it many times – the feeling that you have so many things to do but very little time to do them. And it feels bad, utterly tiring and demotivating. It feels like you have been doing a lot but accomplishing very little.

Overextending at work or any other area of your life can backfire and cause unhappiness. You may be wondering why you’ve come to hate the job you once loved and dreamed of, or take for granted the person you loved the most. If things are going out of balance, don’t panic. In most cases, you only need to take a pause to unwind, recharge and regain your strength, and get back on track again.

But how do you know that you already need a pause?

The following are the warning signs that you definitely need a break. And what you can do about it.

You complain that there’s only 24 hours in a day.

You know you can never change this fact but you keep on complaining and wishing it’s not true. If you are running around like a headless chicken, you are overextended. Being a superhuman can’t help you accomplish more things. When you put too much on your plate, you increase the chance of having fewer goals to accomplish, which simply makes you more frustrated and fed up. Be realistic with your daily targets, as well as your long-term goals. Don’t try to juggle things all at the same time. When making a to-do list, try prioritising the most important ones so even if you weren’t able to finish the rest, you can still feel a sense of accomplishment.

You used to love your job. Now, you loathe it.

Do you remember your first weeks, months and years in your job? There was probably an excitement, joy and enthusiasm. You were probably at your most productive self. But then things start changing. You get burnt out easily. You accomplish less despite your efforts. You are not happy with your performance at work. And you always wish it’s already weekend. If this sounds familiar to you, it is a sign that you are overworked and definitely need a break – a good one. If it’s possible, go ask for some holiday time off. A few days of out-of-work experience can do wonders for your productivity and performance at work. During your rest days, try to make the most out of them. Avoid checking work emails, talking about work issues, and anything else that has to do with work. Make these days what they are intended for – rest.

You don’t have a social life.

If you’re always missing your children’s events, always have an excuse for your friends’ invites and your family and colleagues have no idea where you are – your need for a break is long overdue. Lack of social life is one of the top five regrets of the dying. So if you don’t want this to happen to you, take a pause from your busy life and spend more quality time with your loved ones. They can add more joy to your life and make work easier and the challenges more bearable. You need that sense of belongingness. You need to feel that there are people behind you – praying and wishing that you are doing well.

You haven’t seen a gym in months.

You used to go to the gym several days a week – sweating out all the tension, stress and worries. Now, you hardly think of working out. You don’t even consider exercising at home, or taking a morning jog or walk. You think 30 minutes of physical activity could be 30 minutes of working time so you just tell yourself “I’ll just work out next week”, but it never really happens. Fitness and health should be at the top of your priorities. You can’t be productive at work and perform at your best when you are physically unfit. You really don’t have to hit the gym to stay physically active. Jogging in place for several minutes, taking the stairs instead of the lift, riding a bike instead of a car on your way to work (or parking a few meters away from your workplace), dancing, or downloading some home workout videos to follow are simple ways to stay physically active without putting much time or effort.

You’re S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D.

Does stress never leave you? Are you always feeling tired and lacking in energy? Are you experiencing sleepless nights? Do you drink more coffee than you used to? Do you suffer from unexplained pain such as low back pain, and fatigue? Chances are – you are stressed. Stress can be your worst enemy. It is a condition that when not taken seriously, can lead to a poor health outcome. Chronic stress has been widely linked to a host of health problems, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. Feeling stressed is a big warning sign that you need a break. It means you need to act on it now before something else – an irreversible damage – comes around.

You fear change.

Do you hate change? They say nothing is constant in this world but change. However, if you are continually trying to be in charge of everything without allowing room for change, you could be missing a lot of opportunities that could make you extra happier. If there’s an opportunity you are thinking about, don’t hesitate to welcome it. Life really is short. Pause and take a break. This helps you find clarity and make better choices.

It’s time for a break if you can check off one of these items. But taking a pause doesn’t mean quitting your job or pushing away things or people that stress you out. It doesn’t always call for a long holiday. You simply have to slow down. How? The key is to simply know what works best for you. If you can’t get a week-long rest period, try to think of a daily routine that allows yourself to just “be”. At this moment, avoid overthinking about anything, and remember you are just there, being.

Consider strolling in the park, playing with your pet, or spending time alone in a nice place (your garden) and letting nature comfort your troubled mind as you breathe in and out. Dedicate time to do this activity, even if it’s just five minutes a day. And as you do it, make sure your phone or computer is not with you. You want to disconnect, at least for the time being. Consider taking a pause. You’ll realise that life gets so much better when you are able to take a pause and slow down.

The worst thing that could happen to us is not very likely to happen.

But it could. You could discover that you are dying of an incurable disease, or that one of your loved ones is in this condition. Or what’s more even that the end of the world is in sight, or that some other “terrible” event is about to occur. So, how do you deal with this adversity?

Let’s go with the elegant solution:

The probability of you getting a disease is low, but if you do get it, death would still not be awful. Why is it not awful? Because it isn’t 100% bad – you could always die younger or more painfully. And it isn’t so bad that it absolutely should not ever transpire. No matter how bad it is, it should be that bad – because that’s the way it is: very bad!

Nothing is awful, even death. To the best of our knowledge, death is exactly the same state as people are in before they are conceived: Zero. No pain, no hassles, no worries – nothing. Therefore, why upset yourself about it, when you will ultimately face it anyway, and when worrying about it may cause you – until the age of 95! – needless pain.

The advantage of your taking the “Suppose the worst thing does actually happen” approach is that it not only tends to end your ‘awful-izing’ about relatively minor “disasters” but about major ones as well. For if you can see that even the worst possibility, if it does occur, is only highly frustrating and not totally bad, you may thereafter resist making yourself disturbed about practically anything. You can still be concerned but not horrified about exceptionally bad adversities.

You can accept the reality that you have no control

If you adopt this solution to feeling frantic, you will also stop exaggerating the probability of “dire” things actually happening and will make yourself more emotionally hardy. You can accept the reality that you have no control over what we call “fate” and over many accidents that may happen. If you frantically think that you have to control all dangerous events, you still cannot do so, and even if you manage to partly control them, you greatly limit your freedom and your life. Thus, if you avoid “dangerous” airplane flights, you may still be killed in a car crash; and you limit how far you can travel. No matter how you restrict yourself, you may fall victim to some germ or other hazard. Tough! But you do not fully control your destiny.

Work to understand that if some of the worst things happen, you don’t have to feel misery and horror. Great trouble and difficulty, yes. Awfulness and terror, no. You can almost always find some degree of real, personal enjoyment. If you strongly believe that you can! After all, what’s the worst that can happen?

With solution focused hypnotherapy, we regularly see clients with high states of emotional arousal.

We can quickly treat these conditions, such as anxiety, using a combination of therapeutic techniques including hypnotic trance. First we help our clients regain control. Secondly, we get them to operate from what we call the more positive and intellectual side of the brain. This naturally allows for behaviour of a more positive nature, and thus begins the journey of recovery. In essence we help create less of a black or white outlook and more of a shades of grey scene.

Quite significant consequences have come about from our emotions operating in black or white thinking. In particular within our human evolution and history.

The two extremes.

As emotions rise, the original primitive part of the brain ‘hijacks’ the higher, more recently evolved intellectual brain. This very quickly begins to blank out the more subtle distinctions in life.  For example, in a life or death situation, the ability to make fine discriminations must be shut off, so that we can act quickly to take the decisive action needed to save ourselves.  A black or white, right or wrong, all-or-nothing result arises once there is a significant issue of emotional arousal.  Everything thereafter operates out of these two extremes.

Thankfully, the intellectual brain partly evolved as a means to discriminate the shades that exist between black or white.  Quite simply, it was nature’s solution to our need for adaptable responses to the ever-changing environment.  This of course can only happen if the original primitive part of the brain isn’t too highly aroused.   Interestingly you’ll find it near impossible to communicate with someone who is too highly aroused, they cannot have anything other than a black or white opinion, and unable to see another viewpoint.

Black or white thinking.

If the black or white thinking continues it will eventually generate more emotion by repeatedly turning on the fight or flight response that makes us angry (fight) or anxious (flight).  That individual will then find the intellectual part of their brain unable to use its ability to take a wider perspective on life.  They will be unable to see the infinite shades of grey, and find that they catastrophize the ‘bad’ things that happen by magnifying them.

So, are you a black or white thinker, or do you see the signs that there are shades of grey between? Book online today